crazy experiences - Curious Karibella

2023-01-292023-02-11

A Day Zip Lining on Waiheke

Bright Orange Fungus Growing on on the side of a tree on waiheke

When I woke up this morning, I did not know what we would do or if we would do anything. I went downstairs, and Mom and Dad were talking about some place we could go. I soon figured out that we could go zip lining on an island that Mom really wanted to visit. I remember our last zip-lining experience in Mexico with some very good friends. Me Zeb, B, Mom, and Dad were in the car and off to Waiheke! Dad said we had to leave in fifteen minutes, and I was still eating breakfast! Fifteen minutes is plenty of time to get out the door if you are not going slow.

The Ferry

You usually take a ferry to get to an island by a car. Thankfully our car could transform init a boat, so we did not have to deal with the annoying discomforts of a ferry. I’m completely joking! I don’t think any machine can transform the way I was talking about. We did take the ferry, and it was very comfortable sitting in our car for forty-five minutes. 🙂

Batch vineyard and Restaurant

For lunch, we went to Batch Restaurant. It was also a vineyard, but we did not taste wine. The Venue was super pretty, and the service and food were terrific. It was a restaurant where you ordered a couple of shared plates. We got Duck and short ribs. In my opinion, the Duck leg was way better, and it tasted like a holiday. We had a Gluten Free red velvet doughnut and Hokey Pokey Ice Cream. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream is Vanilla Ice Cream with honeycomb toffee in it. It is so good, and I would highly recommend it! We went to the Zipline after lunch and waited for a little before the adventure.

Eco Zip Zip Lining

Hills of Jungle and vineyards surrounded Eco Zip, there were only three Zip-lines, but they were still really fun. The first line was called Vineyard cruise. It was a very creative name, given that you cruised over a vineyard. The second line was called Jungle Cruise because you were cruising over Jungle. These people were very creative with names. The third one was the biggest and longest, so it was named shorty. I’m joking, it was called…. I don’t remember, but from now on, it is named Shorty.

After we flew through thick air ( I don’t know why people call air thin if you are not at high altitude, it is rather thick near sea level) we took a long walk through the Jungle. We saw 400-year-old trees and a one thousand and something-year-old tree. Near the end of the hike, we came to a tree about two feet wide and fifty or so feet tall. Our guide told us it was a tree that the Maori used to build canoes, and at its oldest, it grew to eight meters wide and so tall that I can’t remember the number! After we saw the big tree, we came across a large pile of rocks. We all thought it was a grave marker of somebody who had died while ziplining, but it was just a pile of stones that people had made. It was not very interesting. The exciting thing was a palm tree. I am not pulling your leg here; these palm trees were OLD. A baby one that had not even formed an actual trunk was TEN years old and only to my knees. About two and a half feet tall. There were lots of these palm trees, and they were all so old. Older than cars and even the united states. It’s a little funny when you think about it, one of the trees was about six hundred feet tall. When it was about 200 just trying to stay alive and grow, meanwhile some hotheaded blokes got a crazy idea to start their own country.

“All alone, across the sea, when your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me.”
-King George, Hamilton Broadway play

After ziplining, we took a rocket to the moon (we took the ferry back home). Zip lining was fun, the ferry was excellent, and New Zealand was Rainy! It was fun, but my other adventures that you can read about in New Zealand Update were totally tubular! For all who love Zip Lining, the BEST zip lining is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It is called Vallarta Adventures, and it is a once (or 100) in a lifetime experience; every person should do it.

Mom and dad coming off of Shorty the zip line

2023-01-162023-01-29

The Dive in Bora Bora

I have to admit Scuba Diving was not my favorite activity. My Scuba training was not a good experience, Thankfully my wonderful Mom Scuba dives and makes sure I have a good time and go slow. The first dive I ever did outside of training was amazing thanks to Mom. The dives this time around were both pretty awsome too!

I always wake up nervous before a dive so I did not eat much. When the dive boat came to our boat to pick us up I was ready.

Our first dive site was pretty close to our boat and it was called Anau. A-na-oo. The dive was roughly 40 minutes long and we went to 32 ft or roughly 12 meters. The coral was beautiful and my favorite part was the fish.

There were so many bright fish and things. Most people don’t know this but colors disappear underwater. They don’t actually disappear you just cant see them without special lights. Red is the first to disappear at around 20 ft then orang at a little over 50. Since we were only at 30ft I could see orange and all the other colors of the rainbow (except red and pink). One interesting thing that happened with colors is, I had hot pink nail polish on and it looked purple underwater.

Back to the actual dive. Have you ever seen a Giant Manta Ray? They can have a wingspan of up to 30ft wide! Note: Manta Rays are Not birds They are fish, they look like a sting ray. Sadly the rays we swam with were not that big, only 7-8 ft wide (roughly 2.5 meters) Manta Rays have big “ horns” on the front of their heads. They are not actual horns but fins. Reef manta rays have curved horns also know as devil horns. Manta Rays predators are large shark and Orcas (killer whales). A great show on Disney plus is called Secrets of the Whales. It has a very interesting episode on Orcas that I would highly recommend.

All in all the dive went really well, I saw a Barracuda (oooooooo Baracooda). that looked like it should be in finding Nemo, i saw lots of zebra looking fish and bright orange fish. I even cracked a joke about Deforestation because parts of the coral were all knocked over. I have to say, I was a little disappointed on my first dive when the coral was not all bright colors and the water wasn’t absolutely clear (Thanks a-lot Nemo 😒 tricking kids into thinking that the sea life talks 🙁 :). It is true that Disney movies don’t depict the real world to a T.

The Second Dive

Teavaniu was our second dive site and, you wont believe, We Went Beyond The Reef! Dun😦 Dun 😲 Dun! 😱 If you don’t know, I’m referencing to the movie Moana. A girl surprisingly named, Moana, goes beyond the barrier reef of her Island to explore the ocean and find Maui, demigod of the wind and Sea. Great movie for All ages and if you have not seen it and you love pineapple 🍍 you have to watch it!

Back to the dive, I can really get sidetracked with just a little bit of humor! 😏 No more Jokes (for now) this dive was deeper by ten ft and seince we were right next to the reef and there was huge swells above us going to crash the party on the reef ( crash onto the reef) we had lots of fun swaying in the swells forty ft below the surface. The sea floor looked like it had roads running through it big enough to fit a car. All I had to imagine was some power lines and you get an underwater dessert. There was a shark and the usual bright fish. I kept seeing fish with weird patterns and crazy colors! Fish no matter how small are very fascinating!

Great Dive Site

I think diving in Bora Bora was the best diving I ever did. You don’t have to go deep and you can see some pretty awesome fish and sea life! We used Bora Bora dive Center but one of our instructors was not nice at all. One key thing for divers is you Can Not rent gear, you have to dive with an instructor even if your certified.😒 I can also now say that I dived at Bora Bora witch is a famous dive place. If you Scuba Dive, Bora Bora is a must visit. 😁

2022-11-082023-09-08

A Visit to Noah’s Ark

Yes we Literally went inside Noah’s Ark. Ok, they did not recover the actual Ark, It was a Replica. But life size and with all the cages for the vigorous animals and Noah, and his family. In this post I will address a lot of the big questions about the Ark and its contents as well as providing a list of things that surprised me. Please enjoy and learn a lot!

Most people including me (before the museum) imagine the Ark a lot smaller than it is and pink! ( I am kidding about the pink. 🙂 It is only a tiny bit smaller than the Titanic. It is over a hundred ft tall and at least fifty feet wide. How did Noah fit all the animals? God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ship and God helped Noah fit all the animals (except wet one’s) in.

How did Noah feed and care for all the animas with only eight people? Each person had to care for 850 animals! (Gargantuan or small) The cages were designed so you did not have to go to each cage every day. (Side note, when we got there i thought mabey we were at Dollywood) There were water feeders and food troughs and the waste fell down chutes into a tray at the bottom for easy cleaning. All the humane and animal waste was emptied into the ocean via a chute. How did Noah build the zenuous (hospitable) Ark? He built it over many decades after Decades of planing and logging. His family helped him build it and they all traveled around the world with him on it.

How did Noah gather all the animals? I am going to give a straight answer to this question and other relative facts (i need 12-31 facts). He did not gather them. God gathered them and sent them to him to be with him. Now, he did not need to take all the animals like fish and some bugs. (Yellow moths went on board to feed the lizards) And not all animal species we have tuday existed back then. Also giraffes and elephants were smaller. Why did only Noahs family go on the Ark? They were were the only ones because the rest of the world was filled with sin and it needed to be cleansed.

Now for the Fun Facts you all have been waiting for.

How Noah could fit everything in so neatly!
Inside was way bigger than i expected!
Every inch of the outside had to be water-proof
little details could not be overlooked
Imagine living with all the smell and heat.
Zebras were also on the on the ark and lions!
Ark was the name Noah choose
Bears were alive then and on the ark!
There were even dinosaurs and two T-Rex’s
Ham and other meat could not be eaten til after the flood.
-Kangaroos lived and were on the boat.
Bugs were mostly left outside the boat but some had to be inside

2022-11-082022-11-08

Analysis of The Asian Pear

I am writing a post about Asian Pear’s because the first time i ate one (yesterday) was eye opening. What i thought were asian pears are actually brown pears. We bought some Asian Pears at a Whole Foods somewhere between Raleigh NC and Chicago. I was skeptical about the taste of it because in truth it did not smell at all good. When i bit into it i was so surprised! It was Sweet but not too sweet and not sour. There not like apples at all because apples are very hard and these are not as hard as apples nor squishy. When you bit into it you get a burst of flavors and it is super juicy but not juicy enough to drip all over you like a peach. Colleuges

The smell is the same as the taste and the outside is just as good as the inside. Unlike pears are these amazing fruits and you never feel like there is too much. There the perfect size and great for the car (this is proven) and at home.

Please Buy these they are the best and if you have kids they will Love them! you can find them at whole foods and possibly at other grocery stores or just by them on Amazon (where everything comes from). Thank You for reading this Random post and Have a lovely and great day, night, mourning, or Afternoon or Evening!

2022-10-032023-10-01

My Last Day in South Africa

Starting Off with Signal Hill Paragliding

I woke up sad, not feeling ready to leave Africa. In addition to packing, we were all getting ready for paragliding. I was not going to participate in the activity because I was too scared, but I was happy for my siblings and parents to do it.

First, we drove to the top of Signal Hill. At the top, the wind wasn’t right for launching the paragliding, so we got some rooibos tea and waited. When the wind was good, I got in a car to be driven down to the bottom and my family got geared up to fly. I talked to the driver all the way down and when I got to the bottom, I arrive just in time to see mom land. The landings were so smooth! You just floated right to the ground and stood up.

In hindsight I wish I had done the paragliding now that I know that it is fun and safe to do. I just get timid sometimes about new experiences that sound scary, like running as fast as you can towards a cliff overlooking the city and jumping off of it (which is what you do to launch paragliding off Signal Hill). Sounds very safe, right? Next time though, I think I will be up for it.

Before Africa I did not really have a favorite place in the world. Before Africa I was sure that Africa would be the last place our family went and we would all be bitten by snakes. Just FYI we did not see a single snake besides the snakes in the museum. I have decided that Africa is my Favorite Place in the international world! The people are amazing, the food is great, the climate does not completely kill you and it is an amazing continent!

Heading Off the Gluten Path

After Paragliding we started walking back to the house we had rented, but then mom remembered that there was a gluten free bakery nearby called Off the Gluten Path. It was a little far to walk, so we got an Uber, but when we arrived at the place, it was just an apartment complex. We figured out that the location on Google Maps was outdated and the real bakery location was on the opposite side of Cape Town, about a 30 minute drive away. When we arrived, it was not an apartment complex – it was heaven! I kept asking “is that gonna be gluten free?” because I wasn’t used to things like croissants, French bread, donuts, cupcakes and cake being gluten free.

For lunch I shared some pizza with Zeb and Bardez. I also got a slice of the red velvet cake. Me and Bardez were allowed to get some little things for the plane ride later that day, so I got a carrot muffin and a croissant. When we had to go, we were all sad, but I really did have to pack, so I was kind of glad to go.

Leaving for the Cape Town Airport

After getting back to the house from our Gluten Free adventures, I finished packing my bags. We had a lot to try and stuff in to our bags, and several boxes of souvenirs we had collected along our journeys in Africa. Dad got the boxes taped up and then it was time for goodbyes and calling an Uber.

It was sad to say goodbye to my dad and older brother and sister, who were going to stay for another week in Africa, but I was also kind of excited to have a break from them and go on an adventure with just mom and Bardez. We were heading back and going all the way to my grandparents vineyard in Oregon to help with the grape harvest which had just started.

22 Hours of Flying: Cape Town to Newark, Newark to Portland

Once we got to the airport and checked our bags and boxes we headed through security and into the airport. My mom was able to take us in to the British Airways lounge even though we were flying on United Airlines back to the US. The lounge was very nice and it was a great place to have a break before the long flight. They even had macaroons, delicious brie cheese, and Appletizers. You might be asking, what is an “Appletizer”? Good question. In the US we would call it sparkling apple juice. It’s like Martinelli’s. But, these come in convenient cans and are extra tasty. I was sad to say goodbye to Africa and Appletizers.

When it was time we boarded the plane for our flight to America. We were flying United Airlines this time, not Delta. The plane was great, but the flight attendants were not very nice. They were downright mean, as if they hated that there were customers on the flight. I did not like that. If I am ever a flight attendant, I would like to be a nice one. Maybe they were just having a bad day, or maybe they should not be working on a 16 hour long flight if they can’t be polite to their customers. Hopefully United Airlines will figure out how to get its staff to be happier, like Delta Airlines staff usually are.

Finally, Arriving at Zenith Vineyard in Oregon

After flying for 16 hours from Cape Town to Newark and then 6 hours from Newark to Portland we finally arrived to Oregon! We got in our car and drive to Zenith Vineyard. My mom said we had to stay awake until 7pm so we would not jet lag too badly. I tried my best, and made it just barely to 7. Tomorrow, it’s harvest time!